In Europe we’re a long way from the Sea of Tranquillity or even the Sea of Knowledge
(Far right on the map, but remember it is a Mirror Image)
At the moment we are all in danger of squalls from the Mountains of Ignorance
Even as we stall, becalmed, in the Doldrums
UK – Shall we walk?
“No deal is better than a bad deal”
MR UK Britain, retired Empire-builder
During the Brexit campaign, Brexiteers promised Brits free trade all over the Earth, sunny uplands and a unicorn each.
They triggered Article 50 without a plan. They now fight like ferrets in a sack because
PM May is paralysed and can’t figure out what to do.
The EU will not let the UK have its cake and eat it.
It will not give the UK a deal that lets it keep the benefits of EU membership without the obligations.
And as the Mirror said before, it is not up to the EU to solve Britain’s problems.
Remember: WTO is no way to go,
No amount of spin will make it so
The EU is not “punishing” the UK for leaving.
The consequences of Brexit are “punishing”.
Catalonia – Shall we talk?
“NO” said
the King of Spain and his Prime Minister, Conservative Mariano Rajoy
The Spanish King is the first European monarch to threaten his people for 150 or more years.
What he’s doing has not been seen in Europe since the 1850’s (except for the UK in Ireland, of course).
Query: Could it possibly be a “Monarchy” problem”?
Catalonia voted for a Republic! In any case,
the Spanish government will dismiss the Catalan executive
It will limit the powers of the Catalan parliament.
Elected Catalan politicians will be replaced by unelected Madrid bureaucrats.
You can’t expect Catalonia to remain in Spain only because Catalans are afraid
While the Spanish King and his Government ensure repression, an authoritarian state and political prisoners, Europe’s leaders tell us it’s an internal Spanish problem
It must be solved within the confines of the Spanish constitution.
Given that very few separatists are interested in leaving the EU, that is a devastating blow.
Furthermore, we do have to ask:
What are constitutions for?
Why did countries across Europe demand Constitutions in the 18th and 19th centuries?
Because they were a means of limiting the powers of Absolute Monarchs and guaranteeing people’s rights
Constitutions are evolving documents – look at how many Amendments there are in the US Constitution
The Spanish government’s “legalistic”argument that Spain’s Constitution is “untouchable”means nothing
If this hasn’t convinced you, here’s what Mr Alfred de Zayas, The UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, has to say :
“no state can use the principle of territorial integrity to deny the right of self-determination and that arguments about the legality of actions taken by Catalonia’s elected parliament are immaterial“.
Queries: In 21st century Europe, are the victims of undemocratic government who are deprived of the means of political remedy by Constitutional means, to be allowed to do nothing but suffer patiently?
When they line up peacefully in streets and polling stations to exercise their right to vote, i.e. write an X upon a piece of paper is all that illegal?
The Spanish State may well state the referendum was illegal.
What the Catalans did certainly wasn’t – when we consider one action at a time.
Must they then stand by and watch as they are beaten up by police, their parliament is suspended, their entire region threatened by annihilation as Spain activates Art 155 of its Constitution?
Scotland – Shall we stand by?
As soon as we decide Independence might be available, we’ll let you know!
Ms Sturgeon said that if she deemed a re-run of 2014’s vote was necessary to protect Scotland’s interests, it would take place before the UK formally leaves the EU in 2019 – a view that was later backed up by her deputy, John Swinney.
This position hasn’t changed over the intervening time and events.
Comment: The Scots may be keeping their powder dry until they see the whites of the Unionists’ eyes, but they do need to remember that
Northern Ireland – Shall we attempt a pas de deux?
Please don’t!
Not that there’s any chance of one.
The DUP
has already declared that suggestions that a deal to restore power-sharing at Stormont is imminent
have “no basis in fact“.
As Unionism/Loyalism/Orangeism is now angling for Direct Rule from London, it shows once again that they have lost their grip on the statelet that was forged for them in the first place
Tell me again . . .
What was the reason for Partition?
REFS and PICS
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378.The_Phantom_Tollbooth
https://www.austria.info/it/informazioni-pratiche-per-viaggiare/tradizioni-e-usanz
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-41620855
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-puts-scotland-standby-second-indyref/
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22295&LangID=E
the mirror@wordpress.com 
It seems to me that, bravely or maybe foolishly, the Catalans have made themselves a sort of test case for break-away independence within an EU major state. How they are treated when inevitably the force the EU to address this issue, to come up with rules and criteria and procedures etc., will affect all the other pending break-aways queuing up behind them. Scotland included!
So we don’t just need to wait patiently in line while they face the music, we should be right behind them confronting the EU until they see sense and accept that Europe is region of peoples, not fixed 18th century ‘nations’.
The great irony being that transitions like Scottish or Catalan Indy could in principle be so much easier under the umbrella of EU agreements and institutions. All it needs is a convention that when a region breaks away from an EU member state, and agrees to remain a member, it is automatically accepted, all things being equal. After all it will already comply with most if not all of the EU’s requirements. So the transition should be entirely painless, with none of the uncertainty of being thrown out and having to beg to get back in. Surely this is nothing less than common sense??
Meanwhile, where are all the small nations, the recently independent nations? Where for that matter is Ireland FFS??!! They should be lining up along with all those regions that hunger for self-government to pressure France/Germany/Spain (UK???) etc. to see sense.
Maybe the fascist cops need to be redeployed to bang a few thick heads together?
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For a rather more scholarly take on the same basic idea, see Mark Russel’s comment here over on our friend’s blog, the WGD :
https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2017/10/21/el-cop-destat/comment-page-1/#comment-52577
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